Smartphone app offers business discounts

Using a smartphone app to spur sales of pizzas and other foods: Rosario Bevilacqua, the namesake and co-owner of Rosario’s Pizzeria & Ristorante in Clarks Summit, recently signed the restaurant up for Spotluck. Rosarios is one of 19 local eateries that are participating in the program, which rewards users with varying discounts on their meals. -

Rosario’s Pizzeria & Ristorante in Clarks Summit is one of 19 area restaurants that have been signed up for the Spotluck meal discount app. Pictured is a screen capture from the app. -

Shown is a screen capture of the spinning wheel featured on the Spotluck smartphone app. The largest discounts are given when a user lands on 1 of the 19 area restaurants participating in the program. -

CLARKS SUMMIT – Since the middle of last month, some customers at Rosario’s Pizzeria & Ristorante have leaned across the counter with their smartphones and showed the devices, screen-first, to the eatery’s employees. They were not sharing photos or maps, but were redeeming discounts.

Rosario’s is one of 19 local restaurants participating in Spotluck, an app that allows users to receive discounts on their meals. Users “spin” a video wheel which looks like the dial from an old-fashioned rotary telephone. Where that wheel stops is the restaurant at which the user receives the largest discount.

“They have to show us the app and the discount has to be for today,” said Rosario Bevilacqua, the namesake and co-owner of the business. “No screen shots.” It was just after the noontime rush on Friday recently, and Bevilacqua‘s restaurant was emptying as people headed back to work.

Spotluck users can make the spin from anywhere, but can redeem their reward only when at the eatery. Courtesy of GPS, the app knows if a user is inside a particular restaurant.

Metropolitan Scranton is one of 15 regions in the U.S. using Spotluck. Other areas include New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The app was launched in February 2015 with a group of restaurants in and around Washington, D.C. Spotluck is free to download and use.

Discounts range from 10 to 35 percent off the bill. They get larger during slow times at a restaurant. A discount on a Wednesday afternoon will be larger than one on a Friday night.

With each spin – the app allows one per day, but there are ways to earn bonus spins – there is a 1 in 19 chance local users will earn a discount to Rosario’s. But discounts still apply no matter which establishment is selected by the wheel.

“You’ll automatically get 10 to 15 percent,” said Bevilacqua, who owns the business with his wife Jessica. “It’s just that if it’s selected by chance, after a spin, that you’ll get a bigger discount.”

Bevilacqua opened the store in May 2011. Sales, he said, had increased every year since he baked his first pizza. He believes there are two reasons for the eatery’s success.

Bevilacqua said he signed a one-year contract with Spotluck. The app company earns money when people redeem the discounts.

“They get a dollar a person,” Bevilacqua explained. “If you come by yourself, they get a dollar. If you come with 10 people, plus you, they get 11 dollars.”

December is always the busiest month of the year at Rosario’s, while January and February are two of the slowest. Bevilacqua hopes Spotluck will spur both existing and new customers to come through the door. Since the other 18 restaurants are mostly in Scranton, users from the south could decide to drive to Clarks Summit when their spins land on Rosario’s.

“Once in a while you have to do something different to bring new people in,” Bevilacqua said

Using a smartphone app to spur sales of pizzas and other foods: Rosario Bevilacqua, the namesake and co-owner of Rosario’s Pizzeria & Ristorante in Clarks Summit, recently signed the restaurant up for Spotluck. Rosarios is one of 19 local eateries that are participating in the program, which rewards users with varying discounts on their meals.

https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Rosario-1.jpgUsing a smartphone app to spur sales of pizzas and other foods: Rosario Bevilacqua, the namesake and co-owner of Rosario’s Pizzeria & Ristorante in Clarks Summit, recently signed the restaurant up for Spotluck. Rosarios is one of 19 local eateries that are participating in the program, which rewards users with varying discounts on their meals.

Rosario’s Pizzeria & Ristorante in Clarks Summit is one of 19 area restaurants that have been signed up for the Spotluck meal discount app. Pictured is a screen capture from the app.

https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Rosarios-Discount-1.jpgRosario’s Pizzeria & Ristorante in Clarks Summit is one of 19 area restaurants that have been signed up for the Spotluck meal discount app. Pictured is a screen capture from the app.

Shown is a screen capture of the spinning wheel featured on the Spotluck smartphone app. The largest discounts are given when a user lands on 1 of the 19 area restaurants participating in the program.

https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Spin-1.jpgShown is a screen capture of the spinning wheel featured on the Spotluck smartphone app. The largest discounts are given when a user lands on 1 of the 19 area restaurants participating in the program.

By Charles Erickson

For Abington Journal

Spotluck users

There are 19 local eateries participating in the Spotluck restaurant discount program. The app is free to download and use. Restaurants pay the app company a fee every time a patron uses Spotluck for a discount.

POSH @ THE SCRANTON CLUB

404 N. Washington Ave., Scranton

MORGAN’Z PUB & EATERY

315 Green Ridge St., Scranton

SACCO’S PIZZERIA & ITALIAN RESTAURANT

208 Meadow Ave., Scranton

CARMEN’S 2.0

700 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton

MCNALLY’S

217 E. Market St., Scranton

ROSARIO’S PIZZERIA & RESTAURANT

100 Highland Ave., Clarks Summit

TEQUILA

414 Spruce St., Scranton

ALE MARY’S

126 Franklin Ave., Scranton

BACKYARD ALE HOUSE

523 Linden St., Scranton

LUCCA RESTAURANT

802 S. Main St., Taylor

TRAX BAR + KITCHEN

700 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton

SAMBUCA GRILLE & BAR

234 Penn Ave., Scranton

ZALESKI BROS. PIZZERIA & GRILL

3 W. Olive St., Scranton

CUSUMANO

432 S. Main St., Old Forge

ANDY GAVIN’S EATERY & PUB

1392 N. Washington Ave., Scranton

THE VAULT TAP & KITCHEN

301 N. Main Ave., Scranton

NEARRA’S PIZZERIA

1439 Capouse Ave., Scranton

FRATELLI’S PIZZA & PASTA HOUSE

1249 Providence Road, Scranton

JACK’S DRAFT HOUSE

802 Prescott Ave., Scranton

Reach the Abington Journal newsroom at 570-587-1148 or by email at news@theabingtonjournal.com.

Reach the Abington Journal newsroom at 570-587-1148 or by email at news@theabingtonjournal.com.